Some hoteliers (brands & management companies) believe that developing tech solutions in-house is cheaper and provides better customization to the hotelier's concrete needs and control over the ongoing maintenance and performance. Another school of industry-thought believes that hoteliers should focus on their core competencies: providing the best customer experience and best returns possible to ownership and outsource technology applications, products and solutions to specialized vendors.
So the question is, in this era of rapid technological advancements and adoption of next-gen technologies such as AI, IoT, automation, robotics, blockchain, etc., should hoteliers keep technology developments in-house or outsource to specialized, well-funded vendors?
This viewpoint is brought to you by HITEC Dallas 2021
I would always be an advocate of buying 'off the shelf' solutions where possible, and I believe it is becoming increasingly easier to do this, although there is still a way to go! With the rate of change in technology, I am more comfortable relying on solutions that are used by other hospitality experts, which should, in theory, allow for a wider group to impact research and development.
Last year I participated in the research and illustration of the last 100 years of hotel technology in our series "The History of Hotel & Travel Technology" (read article). In many cases, we've seen hotel distribution and technology change during or after a global crisis.
While virtual reality can be used to attract travelers to a specific destination, augmented reality has the potential to enhance the experience as it is lived. From the point of view of sales and advertising, AR is a great way to show offers and promotions in real-time: a traveler could point the camera at a restaurant and see the menu-of-the-day come to life, or watch hotel room rates shown over the "real" property.
There is so much data that a hotel has or can have access to... but in most cases, there's no one who understands how to translate these data into actionable insights on a hotel's current and future business.
For obvious reasons, Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) announced last week that this year's HITEC will pivot to a virtual edition called "Cyber HITEC." I guess most of you have been participating and attending in a variety of online event formats over the past 3 months.
Most hoteliers agree that, at least for the foreseeable future, hotel stays will be different. Guests will be more conscious about hygiene, social distancing and expecting a contactless guest-journey.
